Tuesday, September 10, 2013

If the first teaser for "American Horror Story: Coven" featuring the cast is any indication, the next installment of the horror anthology show looks like a very sexy and creepy season of the witch.

The new teaser begins with long-legged women in very high heels click-clacking in unison towards an antebellum mansion when a Mazzy Star-esque version of "House Of The Rising Sun" kicks in. Instead of pointy witch hats, a parade of women in black mini skirt and white blouses wear black wide-brimmed sun hats. They're led by younger women (Taissa Farmiga, Gabourey Sidibe, Emma Roberts and Jamie Brewer), who look like new inductees in a very non-Hogwarts school of witchraft.
Meanwhile, returning cast member Evan Peters looks down from a window inside the white mansion on the approaching girls. Through the glass we see two pair of women's bodies, hanging like windchimes at the entrance. It is unclear whether Peters' character is held captive or looking on from a position of power. Sarah Paulson -- also returning for her third season -- opens the door for the women and is also wearing the same clothing. On the porch is a man in loincloth with a bull's head. His eyes spring open and the teaser cuts to an interior room of the mansion, lit in shadows. On the ceiling is a pentagram, and a buck stands alongside the women in hats. Three tall women in black gowns and masks on loom over their "students." In a twist on the old superstition, a white cat crosses the path of the three and we're treated to a closer shot, where the masks are removed to reveal Angela Bassett's Marie Laveau, Jessica Lange's Fiona and Kathy Bates' Madam LaLaurie.

The teaser is creepy but doesn't reveal much about the show's third season plot. Bates, Bassett and Lange are clad in different period clothing, leaving us to wonder if the show will bounce around in time, as "Asylum" did quite a bit. Also, it seems clear that those three are the leaders of this little crew, but the younger women have a menacing element to them.

Here's how FX describes the new season:

"American Horror Story: Coven" tells the secret history of witches and witchcraft in America. Over 300 years have passed since the turbulent days of the Salem witch trials and those who managed to escape are now facing extinction. Mysterious attacks have been escalating against their kind and young girls are being sent away to a special school in New Orleans to learn how to protect themselves. Wrapped up in the turmoil is new arrival, Zoe (Taissa Farmiga), who is harboring a terrifying secret of her own. Alarmed by the recent aggression, Fiona (Jessica Lange), the long-absent Supreme, sweeps back into town, determined to protect the Coven and hell-bent on decimating anyone who gets in her way."

Check out the teaser for "American Horror Story: Coven," which premieres Oct. 9 at 10 p.m.